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Criticised Assimil programs

  Tags: Assimil
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
67 messages over 9 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 8 9 Next >>
staf250
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Belgium
emmerick.be
Joined 5697 days ago

352 posts - 414 votes 
Speaks: French, Dutch*, Italian, English, German
Studies: Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 57 of 67
21 July 2014 at 10:58am | IP Logged 
I looked up the word "shocker"! Wow.
I'm using Assimil Arabic from French tot Arabic. It's quite complete, I like it :)
After taking help from a teacher of Arabic he gave me the advice to read Arabic without the little accents and to go
on quicker.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Paco
Senior Member
Hong Kong
Joined 4277 days ago

145 posts - 251 votes 
Speaks: Cantonese*

 
 Message 58 of 67
27 July 2014 at 8:08pm | IP Logged 
Have you ever found a course with audio done by non-native speakers and/or "semi-native"
speakers?

Last time, after reviewing the Cantonese samples, I doubted if they were in fact made by
"native speakers" who speak a "distorted version" of the language (seemingly influenced
by French; as opposed to that spoken by people in Hong Kong or Macau), and non-natives.

Then I wonder whether the same thing happens in other cases, especially non-European
languages, e.g. Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Japanese, etc.

Edited by Paco on 28 July 2014 at 3:54pm

3 persons have voted this message useful



Medulin
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Croatia
Joined 4668 days ago

1199 posts - 2192 votes 
Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali

 
 Message 59 of 67
28 July 2014 at 11:11pm | IP Logged 
Some UK-made courses of American English (like
"American Headway) feature British voice actors
imitating a general American accent (it sounds
comically contrived).

Edited by Medulin on 28 July 2014 at 11:15pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



JamesS
Diglot
Newbie
Australia
Joined 4215 days ago

20 posts - 30 votes
Speaks: English*, Indonesian
Studies: Javanese, German, Mandarin

 
 Message 60 of 67
02 August 2014 at 8:09am | IP Logged 
Medulin wrote:
Some UK-made courses of American English (like
"American Headway) feature British voice actors
imitating a general American accent (it sounds
comically contrived).


I've often wondered what the point of having two separate English courses is. Sure, there are different
accents (although significantly more than could be covered by the total of eight or so actors that I'm guessing
are used between the two editions) and some minor differences in vocabulary and spelling, but it's still the
same language. Is this just a marketing ploy or do they hope to double their profit by selling both books to
English learners?
1 person has voted this message useful



tristano
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 4047 days ago

905 posts - 1262 votes 
Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English
Studies: Dutch

 
 Message 61 of 67
05 August 2014 at 1:12am | IP Logged 
Well for example I am interested only in British English (because it is the original one,
like I wouldn't study Surinaamse Dutch) while all the other people I knew in my life prefer
American English because it is more international.
2 persons have voted this message useful



alang
Diglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 7221 days ago

563 posts - 757 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish

 
 Message 62 of 67
13 February 2015 at 10:46am | IP Logged 
Paco wrote:
Have you ever found a course with audio done by non-native speakers
and/or "semi-native"
speakers?

Last time, after reviewing the Cantonese samples, I doubted if they were in fact made
by
"native speakers" who speak a "distorted version" of the language (seemingly
influenced
by French; as opposed to that spoken by people in Hong Kong or Macau), and non-
natives.

Then I wonder whether the same thing happens in other cases, especially non-European
languages, e.g. Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Japanese, etc.


I am glad the recommendation by the member Lykeio of ignoring the audio aspect of
Assimil and just sticking to the text was not taken seriously. I could just imagine
people who listen and imitate the Cantonese course thinking, the sound is the standard
version with native speakers and be shocked when they find out it might not be the
case.

The audio is an important part of any language and with the Assimil course both have
to be reviewed, due to the reason a customer would like to be well informed, instead
of missing information, that would help adjust the language study accordingly.

The only idea I have is to let native speakers of particular languages listen to the
non-European languages of Assimil and judge what kind of accent it is. If they are
able to tell if it is a native speaker or if the audio is strange to their ears.



Edited by alang on 13 February 2015 at 10:50am

1 person has voted this message useful



hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 5130 days ago

1871 posts - 3642 votes 
Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

 
 Message 63 of 67
13 February 2015 at 3:30pm | IP Logged 
tristano wrote:
Well for example I am interested only in British English (because it is the original one,
like I wouldn't study Surinaamse Dutch) while all the other people I knew in my life prefer
American English because it is more international.

I'm not really convinced that American English is more "international". I think American English media is more diffused throughout the world, but I also think that it's pretty easy to find British expats in any part of the world. Hell, even in the US, in every city I've ever lived in I've worked with, known and met many Brits.

R.
==
1 person has voted this message useful



leroc
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4311 days ago

114 posts - 167 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German

 
 Message 64 of 67
13 February 2015 at 7:39pm | IP Logged 
tristano wrote:
Well for example I am interested only in British English (because it is the original one,
like I wouldn't study Surinaamse Dutch) while all the other people I knew in my life prefer
American English because it is more international.


American English is actually more conservative than British English. It's closer to how English used to sound
hundreds of years ago.

Edited by leroc on 13 February 2015 at 7:44pm



3 persons have voted this message useful



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